ABC axes 'Roseanne' following star's racially-charged tweet

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ABC axes 'Roseanne' following star's racially-charged tweet

Roseanne Barr apologized for tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett; reaction on 'The Five.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," May 29, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, CO-HOST: Hello, everybody. I'm Jesse Watters along with Kimberly Guilfoyle, Marie Harf, Dana Perino, and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York, and this is "The Five."

Stunning developments as Roseanne gets axed by ABC. The show's star igniting a firestorm after tweeting this racially charged comment about President Obama's former aide Valerie Jarrett, Muslim brotherhood and Planet of the Apes had a baby equals V.J. The comedian later expressed remorse after facing intense backlash tweeting, I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks.

I should have known better. Forgive me my joke was in bad taste. As a result of the uproar, ABC pulling the plug on the wildly popular Roseanne by releasing this statement, Roseanne's twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values and we have decided to cancel her show. Here's Valerie Jarrett's reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIE JARRETT, FORMER AIDE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: The tone does start at the top and we like to look up to our president and feel as though he reflects the values of our country, but I also think every individual citizen has the responsibility, too. And it's up to all of us to push back. Our government is only going to be as good as we make it be. And as -- taught me you have to be -- people on the inside have to push hard and people on the outside have to listen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATTERS: I could not believe this news, Dana, when I saw it today break, probably close to your hour. I mean, what a dumb thing to think and then to say on twitter.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: Yeah. It was very awful. I think it broke around 1:54 PM, so I had to call my trusty friend, Greg Gutfeld, and ask him if he could come and talk about it because it really -- he's got great perspective and I know we'll go to him next. But I do think it's one of those things where -- beyond the pale.

WATTERS: Yeah.

PERINO: So, ABC does a very quick cost benefit analysis, says it's not consistent with their values, that's what the company said. And a private corporation can and should do what they need to do. Interesting thing is they gave her a second chance to relaunch this program, it was wildly successful, to get signed for a second year, and my -- I really feel for the people who are working underneath that show.

WATTERS: Right.

PERINO: Right. So, you've had, probably, hundreds of people who will never be seen on the program, but they're the ones doing all the work on the background, all the marketing, all the people running to get coffee, the wardrobe, the set design, lighting, audio, all of those people. Now, their future is uncertain because of one racist tweet.

WATTERS: Yeah. She destroyed a lot of people's career trajectories, obviously. She's paying a price as she should, Greg. What do you think about what happen and what do you think about Valerie Jarrett saying this start at the top with the president?

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: Well, she's incorrect on that point because well before Donald Trump was in office or even entertaining the presidency, Roseanne was always saying, absolutely, that poop crazy stuff. And we knew that. We've talked about this on the show even when her show came out that she said some completely crazy stuff, but maybe she changed and the show seems refreshing. And this is a new start and -- not the case. A lot of people are saying this is a freedom of speech issue, not really because freedom of speech in a place of work has consequences. We've talked about this with the NFL, saying like the NFL can make their own rules. So, if you're going to do something objectionable like what Roseanne did at a place of work, ABC is every bit right, as Fox News would be, if any of us had done something as absurd and ridiculous and hateful as that. But, I do think it's incorrect to broadly blame a political party or a politician over this. It's not that, it's the individual.

The other point to make is that twitter can ruin a career faster than a string of felonies. It really is. I said earlier on your show, it's like -- it's used to be the office Christmas party that would get you fired. Now, you could just cut to the chase, you can just go on twitter, wasted or not, and just think, and think that, like, oh, you know what, this can't hurt. I'll just say this. And the next day, the company cuts you because they have to, as you've said it's part of the deal of the job. Just one last thing to just reiterate what I've said on your show, comedians have a flaw within them and it is the desire to jump off cliffs. People become comedians for that reason, to jump off cliffs. When they get on a stage, when they're saying that thing, it's to jump off -- it's to see what happens, and this is what happens sometimes.

WATTERS: And so late in a long, storied career. This is not a mistake that a 20-year-old person would make.

GUTFELD: But you know who made this mistake a lot? Alec Baldwin.

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: She feels like the right-wing version of Alec Baldwin. He got two or three chances after he left for homophobic remarks after his show -- when his show at MSNBC, and then he got fired, he got a second chance. So who knows if she'll be afforded. Joy Reid has got an amazing second chance going right now after a paper trail of homophobia.

WATTERS: I just don't see her ever coming back from something like this to a network show, Kimberly. This was just so reckless and irresponsible after they've given her another shot with the reboot. It's just so sad for her, for everybody, and for Valerie Jarrett who was the victim here.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Yeah. I mean, Roseanne Barr has apologized, but there's just, you know, there's really, kind of, no cure for something so abhorrent and racially insensitive. And ABC acted, you know, decisively, and with authority, and compelling, you know, morality on this issue to say, listen, this is not appropriate what happened. And despite the fact that this was a tremendous, you know, economic opportunity for the network in terms of the show. They've made the right decision to say, we will not tolerate or standby when we see one of our stars behave in a way like this and say these things on twitter. I think to equate at though to say that, in fact, it has anything to do with the President of the United States, is wat too far, you know, a stretch.

Roseanne Barr has been around for a long time. She has personal responsibility for what she chooses to do just like each and every one of us do as well. And, I just really do think about the jobs and the people, like, you know, Dana, you mentioned too. That are really excited about this opportunity to have, you know, for their families, for everything. And I think the ripple effect of it will be, you know, tremendous. This was a chance, kind of a new start, a new beginning for that show and for so many people associated with it along the line, production team and the crew, all of the above. So, you know, I just hope that they are able to find jobs and land in a good place, you know, despite having to go through this hardship.

WATTERS: And, Marie, ABC had kind of given her a long leash on twitter. She's been continuing to say provocative political things over the course of the reboot that most people really wouldn't get away with in Hollywood, and she was able to get away with it until she went way overboard with something out of left field like that. And easy decision for ABC, it was time to go. Do you think they -- there's any responsibility for, kind of, mismanaging her or is it all on her?

MARIE HARF, CO-HOST: I think it's all on her. And the fact that they had given her a long leash, they had let other tweets go at least publicly. They'd given her a chance to be outrageous and be provocative, that's who she is, this went too far. So, it's not like the first sign of controversy ABC cut and run. They've made clear this was beyond the pale, this beyond the line. She just tweeted incredibly offensive things on a number of issues over many years. And like Greg said, twitter can be very problematic. I mean, there's a reason I'm not on twitter, not that I would tweet things like this. But, you know, it is not--

WATTERS: It's probably good you're not on twitter.

HARF: Oh, yes, I'm sure. I hear what people say sometimes and I don't need to see it. But it's so easy to tweet and to not think, and she has a long history of this, and speech has consequences. And ABC was absolutely within its right, and I think it's the right thing here.

WATTERS: This was -- she said it was a joke.

HARF: It's not--

WATTERS: I didn't think it came off as a joke. It seems like -- kind of a little mean.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: -- because then the apology doesn't seem real. It's like, oh, oh, sorry you don't understand how hilarious I am --

HARF: Right.

PERINO: -- because I'm so funny.

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: I also think that conspiracy theorist, or conspiracy theories are dangerous, right? You go down this rabbit hole. It's kind of fun to think about for a second, like, oh, are there ufo's up there that government, blah, blah, blah. But you go down those dark roads. And what happened, apparently, is she was responding to something from a conspiracy theory website--

HARF: Right.

PERINO: -- and then it spiraled out of control. It used to be, before twitter, E.T., remember we're going to do this book called E.T. before twitter, all the things -- you might have just said that to your neighbor or whoever you're hanging out with. Maybe they would laugh, maybe they'd not. Maybe they would punch you in the face. But doing it on twitter is such a bad thing. And I was asking Greg earlier, and I'm curious what you all think, is that -- I feel like -- many people, especially on public life, think that they have to be on twitter in order to advance their career. Marie, you're a good example of that not being true. You just got a new show at Fox News radio show that you're doing with Guy Benson. It's successful from 6 to 8 PM every night. You're not on twitter for a reason, which is that because it's hateful toward you--

HARF: Right.

PERINO: -- and you don't need to see all of that junk. It clutters your brain with it, and I absolutely admire that. But I do wonder if too many of us who are in television, or do books, or even in politics, and actors, we think we're so clever to be on twitter that you need to do that in order to advance your career, and I think it's not true.

GUTFELD: Even -- I would extend that to a kid working at Arby's who has 20 followers who believes that nobody--

PERINO: Is going to look.

GUTFELD: Nobody is going to look.

PERINO: Remember that lady that went on the flight--

GUTFELD: Yeah, flight.

PERINO: -- the P.R. woman to South Africa -- find out she was fired?

GUTFELD: But it is -- twitter can take something that used to be local and make it national. And maybe that's good, maybe instead of religion, twitter is now the new moral authority. Now, it's not the priest that is telling you how to live, it's this incredible amorphous mob that's out there that says, no, that's wrong. I do believe--

WATTERS: That's like Kathy Griffin.

GUTFELD: Yeah, exactly.

WATTERS: Everybody says no, that's wrong from all side.

GUTFELD: But even before twitter, you know -- Bill Maher lost his job immediately after the comment he made at 9/11 about the hijackers. So, this is not new and people do pay the price. So, I'm not sure if there's a double standard. I mean, people on twitter are going, why isn't Joy Behar getting fired after what she said about Christians?

WATTERS: Well, I think this one -- the Planet of the Apes was so over the line. There was no getting away from that. The people have said--

GUILFOYLE: There's no gray area.

WATTERS: There's no gray area there. And, you know, Kimberly, the Muslim brotherhood that gets kicked around. But when you combine that with the Planet of the Apes, it's just so toxic. It's just -- you can't really ever come back.

GUILFOYLE: Yeah. There is no humor in it. Obviously, it's incredibly offensive. And she's paying the price -- so are the people along with that were innocent. Hopefully it's a lesson to people that this kind of hateful rhetoric will not be tolerated or accepted.

WATTERS: All right. The liberal media busted for spreading fake news about Trump. Greg will explain, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: Evil Trump strikes again! Shocking images of immigrant children sleeping in cages on the floor. And, of course, a former L.A. mayor, an Obama flack and key journalisst all blame heartless Trump.

But not so fast everyone, it turns out these pictures were four years old, when their hero, Obama, was in charge. And with that, the loud condemnations go silent. Who cares now since their idol was boss at the time?

But there's more, this photo of an all baby seat immigration detention bus was also shared and blamed on Trump. One anchor called it a prison bus just for babies. But the photo was also from Obama's era and it's a bus for field trips.

And did you hear the widely shared claim about 1,500 immigrant kids that were separated from mom and dad again by evil Trump? Lie. These children actually arrived alone minus their parents, and then were placed among sponsors. The government had lost track of them which says something about the system, the system that Trump actually wants to fix.

And so, as Trump cements his agenda through significant legislation, these folks have the vapors over imaginary discrimination. But if you can't blame him for that, what's next? Ebola? Malaria? Your lousy love life? And they accuse Trump of spreading baloney. The media can't even check the date on a photo and that's their job to check facts. It's all the usual suspects: identity activists, the paranoids in pajamas, you know, the New York Times.

Fake news is now no longer a catchphrase, it's a brand.

I have an idea. Dana, where is it? Shoot, I lost it.

GUILFOYLE: Beautiful mind notes.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Here it is. Trump should go on national TV and layout point by point his DACA plan to embarrass the Democrats with the fact that he is actually offering a plan to citizenship that they don't. But don't do it on tweets, go out there and do it. That's a good idea.

PERINO: I absolutely think that he could do a lot more policy oriented speeches, and that would drive news for like 48 hours. It's like do that and nothing else.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: It's like drive on that news. He could do an oval office address that would be one way to do it. That really focuses the mind. That means it would be a primetime address. If this is the number one issue, certainly for Republicans, but if it's an economic issue for care about also in June, you have all the Democrats in the house and a lot of house Republicans signing this discharge petition to actually force votes on the DACA issue, so the president, I think, would be right to get out in front of it. That's a great idea, Greg.

GUTFELD: Thank you.

PERINO: In the meantime, the other thing you should do is to say, I'm not going to wait for congress to fix this issue. Whatever he can do to fix the system as it currently stands within the federal government, about keeping track of these children, he could lay that out, too.

GUTFELD: Yeah. You know, Jesse, I don't know if you saw this over the weekend because you, unlike me, have a life, CNN did a piece on whether it was right for Ivanka Trump to tweet a photo of her and her son. Did you see that?

WATTERS: Yeah.

GUTFELD: She had a picture of her son because they thought it was like, while this missing child narrative is going on. How bad is it that she's showing a picture of her kid. What is up with CNN?

WATTERS: I don't know. I don't think they know what's up with them. So, I didn't really look at the blackberry a lot, or iPhone this weekend. I tried to unplug.

PERINO: You didn't?

WATTERS: I didn't. And then, every time I did dial in and check it out, the media was screwing up every single time, whether it was Ivanka or this. And I was listening to Limbaugh which was a lot of fun on the drive back--

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: And he was talking about this story about the photos and he had a great line, he said, the Democrats keep getting hit square between the eyes and they don't even realize it. And think about this, you have this, you have the Russia investigation, you have the kneeling, you have opposing the tax cuts. Everything keeps backfiring on the Democrats. But the sad thing is that this photo goes out, thousand -- tens of thousands of times, and then the retraction and the deletion doesn't get seen, so the damage is already done. But the reason they do this, the reason they have the policy to separate children and families is to discourage human trafficking, to discourage families from taking kids across the treacherous, hot, dangerous southern border trip, and they want to discourage dangerous and illegal immigration. So if they want to change the policy, let's get a deal on DACA, let's get a deal on merit-based, and they can hammer it out. But, if you're just going to take a potshot, you're going to embarrass yourself.

PERINO: They've also tried to separate them because the adults go to a place that you wouldn't want to have children in.

WATTERS: Right.

PERINO: So, find a different place for them.

WATTERS: So, some would say it's a more humane policy to do that. That's the argument.

PERINO: But a lot of these kids that show up with no parents, then you have to decide what to do with them, and that's where you place them with sponsors like you would foster care.

WATTERS: Right.

GUTFELD: Marie, do you think that one of the larger problems here that's been going on for two years is there is so much emotional baggage about Trump from the Democrats that they can't -- so, the confirmation bias forces them to just see everything, like it's got to be his fault, it's got to be his fault. And they haven't yet been able to shake that.

HARF: Well, I think you could say the same about conservatives and Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, right? We're all in opposing side--

GUTFELD: They're both people, you know.

HARF: Right. I've heard that many times on this show.

WATTERS: Not on Fox.

HARF: Never from you, Jesse, because I don't listen to Limbaugh. I'm sorry.

WATTERS: You're lost.

HARF: Here's the thing though, on the immigration issue itself it is incredibly emotional because these are real people's lives. And, as Jesse just mentioned, they're very dangerous conditions. When you have unaccompanied minor showing up at the border, this is a heartbreaking situation. So, I think that part of the challenge is both sides have gone to such extremes now that the space for a deal on DACA or on any of these is increasingly shrinking, especially in a midterm year. If President Trump went out and gave an address that was somewhere down the middle that had a DACA fix but got some border security and try to bring both sides together, I -- depending on what it said, would probably think that's a good idea. The challenge is the Republican congress isn't on the same page particularly in the house, particularly in a midterm year. So, now, we're in a situation where the Trump administration has separated 800 children from their parents since October, for often good reasons, sometimes not. And, what do we do now? Where are these 1,500 children? This is heartbreaking. And no one in this political climate, it seems like, is trying to actually fix it.

GUTFELD: It's hard to find it--

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: You should be a sponsor. I volunteer you.

GUTFELD: I want Jesse to sponsor me. Kimberly, last word--

HARF: I want Jesse to sponsor me as well.

GUTFELD: -- when people are exposed is wrong, they never admit it. They just remove their tweets and run away, and that drives me nuts.

GUILFOYLE: Yeah. You can't stand it. You're keeping track here.

(LAUGHTER)

GUILFOYLE: It's so expensive indeed. But, yeah -- but it's true, you see the mainstream media making these mistakes and they chase after the accounts and they're putting up false stories. I mean, how glaring is this? That's it's a photograph says from 2014. I mean, talk about just really backfiring. Everyone should care, whatever your politics or administration you're in, about children. But when you look at the actual facts of the laws here that President Trump and his administration is following the law on the book in terms of what you do when people enter the country illegally with children. The goal and aim behind it is to be protective of children, so it doesn't foster this whole legal atmosphere of human trafficking, etcetera. And flat out follow the law, don't enter the country illegally, put yourself and your children at jeopardy. That's not love. That's foolish illegal desperation in terms of not honoring and following the laws. Other people are following it and trying to get into this country legally. It's a nation of immigrants. We embrace and encourage people to apply for legal citizenship. We have the capacity to house about 3,000, you know, families, so how is this going from a bad situation to a worse situation? It's certainly not acting in the best interest of your children to do so.

GUTFELD: And we shall leave it there. I've never thought I'd say that. All right. Special Counsel -- could Special Counsel Robert Mueller swing the midterms for the Democrats? President Trump's warning, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUILFOYLE: This year's election rhetoric is heating up in a big way. Congressman Adam Schiff is launching a new line of attack against Republicans who are defending the president against the Mueller probe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, D-CALIF.: At the end of the day, there's only one remedy for that, and that is you need to throw the bums out. As long as there's a majority in congress that is willing to do this presidents will, and as long as we have a deeply unethical president, there's only one remedy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: And Schiff's Democratic colleague is saying, he didn't go far enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: What it is saying is that -- you're actually worse than bums if you're not willing to stand up to a president who is attacking a former FBI director, a patriot who served our country in Vietnam like Bob Mueller.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUILFOYLE: President Trump is also fanning the flames ahead of November, tweeting the 13 angry Democrats, plus people who worked eight years for Obama, working on the rigged Russia witch hunt will be meddling with the midterm elections, especially now that Republicans, stay tough, are taking the lead in polls. There was no collusion except by the Democrats, exclamation point, Marie.

HARF: Where to start?

GUILFOYLE: Where to start?

HARF: I think this is part of President Trump's ongoing P.R. effort to discredit the Mueller probe, because it's getting more serious and a number of people have been indicted. He's trying to decide whether or not to sit down with Mueller for an interview. And, also trying to figure out about the election coming up, where there are a lot of data points that Republicans will lose, if not the majority and the house but pretty big. So, I think he's trying to muddy the waters a little bit and keep promoting this takedown of the Mueller team. This seems to be his main focus on twitter right now. I, obviously, don't agree. I think that the Mueller teams, despite some of their personal political identities, are led by a Republicans. They have not indicated in any way that they're behaving in a partisan way, and I think they should be able to continue.

GUILFOYLE: OK, Jesse, you see Adam Schiff there who--

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: -- who had a few issues of his own here.

WATTERS: Listen, just on what you've said, Marie, Mueller is about as Republican as Comey is a Republican. I wouldn't consider him a Republican. Nothing is wrong with attacking the special counsel. The attacks, Ken Starr, throughout his term too. That's fine. You've attacked the FBI director when he was fired. Remember what the Democrats said about James Comey when he was the sitting FBI director? Politics is ugly. It's rough. It's fine. People attack people, it's what they do. Now, there are conflicts of interests, 13 out of the 18 lawyers on the Mueller team are Democrats. There are no Republicans there.

One of the Democrats, Jeannie Rhee, is prosecuting Papadopoulos. Now, she previously worked for Hillary Clinton when she was under investigation for emails. She previously worked for the Clinton Foundation, and she worked for, I think it was Ben Rhodes when he was with Obama. So not a good track record.

Now, Papadopoulos, they say, that whole thing started when a Clinton Foundation donor tipped off Obama's FBI. And now the former person that worked for the Clinton Foundation is prosecuting the guy? It seems like there's a little bit of conflict of interest.

But if I were Democrats, the strategists out there on the left, note (ph) this, because I'm going to give you guys advice.

MARIE HARF, CO-HOST: OK. Go on.

WATTERS: If you want to compete against Republicans, I would hammer gas prices, college tuition, health care. I wouldn't talk about Mueller. Mueller's not going to turn people out in the midterms. I don't know why they do that. You can unmute it, and that's fine. So you guys just keep doing what you're doing.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Thank you for that programming note, Jesse. Trying to be helpful, sort of, to the other side.

OK.

DANA PERINO, CO-HOST: That's probably where he said I was going to head on this, which is that recently, Democrats in D.C., sort of behind-the-scenes analyst types have been complaining amongst themselves that they can't get on television to talk about anything else besides of Russia. Because the cable companies have decided, like, "This is how we're going to get ratings and so this is what we're going to talk about." And so they're frustrated trying to figure out a way to talk about some of their programs, like a Better Deal.

They want to talk about health care. They actually want to talk about Medicare for all. And if you follow the money on two things, the Democrats in their primaries are running ads about Medicare for all. This is a Bernie Sanders plan. This is like Obamacare on steroids.

GUILFOYLE: Absolutely.

PERINO: On the Republican side, it's all about immigration, getting tougher on immigration. So if you follow the money, you know that that is poll-tested, focus-grouped, and that's what people care about the most. It's -- they're not going to win in the midterms because of the Russia probe.

GUILFOYLE: Yes. If they go down the impeachment trail of tears, Greg, it will not be auspicious.

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: The blue wave is starting to look like an under undertow, sweeping the Democrats away. But I wouldn't -- I wouldn't celebrate yet, Republicans, because you don't want to get complacent.

But the thing, the story that we're really missing here, what's with the Democrats and the word "bums"? Calling everybody "bums." Way to marginalize the homeless. You know, they spent two weeks frothing over calling gang members "animals." Do you think it's OK to call people "bums"? I mean, come on. They're human beings. You're dehumanizing the homeless and Republicans.

By the way, I do think -- I do think that going Mueller is a bad idea. Because I don't think -- it's a complicated idea to say -- to tell voters, "Go after these people, because they're not going after Trump." That's a complicated argument, and I don't think it competes with higher wages, lower unemployment, no ISIS, possible breakthrough with North Korea. That stuff is tangible, practical, visual. You can actually explain it to somebody.

But like saying, "Go after these bums because they're not being mean enough," it's not actually a message that will work.

GUILFOYLE: Why do they keep sticking with it, despite the fact that it shows it's not resonating?

GUTFELD: I think part -- I think it's -- I think they're caught in an emotional bubble, and they can't get out of it. And they just can't get out and start seeing things practically.

But I would -- I made this -- I coined this phrase last year: "Don't count your chickens before they hatch." You might have heard of it. I would say that to --

PERINO: That's good. I really like that.

GUTFELD: I said --

GUILFOYLE: It's timeless.

PERINO: Like, a metaphor for lots of things.

GUTFELD: Yes, it's shown up in a lot of places.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

PERINO: You're a trendsetter.

GUTFELD: I am.

GUILFOYLE: Finally, you're getting the attribution that you so justly deserve. And only here on "the Five," we're glad to help out.

Up next, the art of the deal. President Trump on track to share the nuclear summit with North Korea. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PERINO: The president's potential summit with North Korea may be back on track. Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading to New York City tomorrow. He'll meet with Kim Jong-un's right-hand man. This as a team of American diplomats are sitting down with North Korean officials at the DMZ.

Hey, Marie, let me start with you. Just from the planning standpoint, from the State Department and the CIA and everybody else that has to be involved, how -- you know, they can plan all of this and it could -- still might not happen, but as the president says, we'll see what happens.

HARF: We'll see. And it seems like the logistical planning is on track now, and Secretary of State Pompeo coming to New York for that meeting is an important step.

The question I still have is whether there's serious, substantive preparation going on with the North Koreans. I think one of the reasons that the summit got called off temporarily last week was that it seems like the substantive gaps were too wide to get the president -- the two leaders sitting down together. Like, do we even know what the North Koreans mean when they say "complete denuclearization"?

PERINO: Apparently, the North Koreans weren't even returning our calls for awhile, which is very rude.

HARF: It is.

GUILFOYLE: Wait a minute, they were ghosting?

PERINO: Yes, they were ghosting. Ghosting the president.

HARF: So the logistics may be moving forward, but my question is whether Pompeo is having serious substantive conversation.

PERINO: Don't you imagine he is? I mean, they're not just sitting down there, Kimberly, having a chit-chat about nothing, if the meeting is in -- two weeks from today.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, they're not like, "Hey, what's a good place to see in the Zagat guide?" I mean, they're getting down to diplomacy, as they should. This is what happens when you have a situation like this where sometimes it's a little bit touch and go. But they are applying diplomatic pressure, and it seems to be working.

PERINO: Yes.

GUILFOYLE: So this is actually coming to a favorable result. Hopefully, doesn't everyone in America -- everyone raise your hands -- you want this to work out. You want the president to be able to attend the summit and work out a good agreement to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. That's what everyone should want internationally. So any steps that are positive towards that, we should actually be embracing.

And I think, you know, Secretary Pompeo is working very hard behind the scenes prior to this, up through this point to make sure that this happens but under the right circumstances.

So it's not so much about June 12, as it is meeting in the right time in the right framework with, you know, the right guidelines in place that we can make a favorable outcome.

PERINO: Greg, should people look at this as progress, not perfection?

GUTFELD: Yes. It's always a work in progress. Another phrase that I coined recently.

GUILFOYLE: Masterful.

GUTFELD: OK, here's my suggestion. This whole thing has to be a nonzero strategy. You know, a zero sum game is if I get $10, you lose $10. My game equals a loss.

In this kind of relationship --

GUILFOYLE: Thanks for that, Greg.

GUTFELD: Hey, I don't know. You know.

GUILFOYLE: Dana knows it.

PERINO: I followed.

GUTFELD: A nonzero-sum game is where the agreement incurs no loss whatsoever. Because if North Korea here's the claim that Trump's got him where he wants him, that's going to kill the deal, because he's going to think that he's being cheated.

So what you want is you want such matters to respect -- or to show respect and reciprocity. Even with an adversary, somebody that you don't get along with, the reciprocity actually matters every bit as much.

This is why Trump's letter was so polite, to the point that people thought it was a joke. But actually, he purposely avoided insult, maintained a level of politeness, because he knew that, as a salesman trying to sell this in a nonzero-sum environment, such words no longer contribute to it. You have to make it a positive event for both.

So my suggestion is nonzero-sum strategies.

PERINO: It occurred to me that, perhaps because we've had more interaction now with Kim Jong-un, through the South Koreans and our own personal interactions, that perhaps the intelligence committee has more of an idea of how Kim Jong-un thinks. So when President Trump sent that letter, they were like, "That will work," because they understand him.

Jesse, what I was going to ask you --

WATTERS: Yes.

PERINO: Do Democrats risk political blowback if they instinctively oppose the president every turn? So like last week when he sent the letter, they're like, "Oh, see? I knew it was going to fail." But now it's back on, so they're caught in a box.

WATTERS: Yes. And even more so on foreign policy, because usually, America as a whole wins, not just one political party.

I'd like to coin a phrase.

PERINO: OK.

WATTERS: Greg, what Obama would get hailed for, Trump gets nailed for.

GUILFOYLE: Wow. That was --

WATTERS: He's taking heat for this summit by the left and by the Democrats.

Meanwhile the amount of back-channeling, the amount of alliance tending, the amount of war games and tweets and dialogue, and diplomacy that has taken place in one year under Trump is more than eight years under Obama. Obama really ignored the North Korean issue, and this president has invested so much energy into denuclearizing the peninsula, it's really astounding.

And I understand why this -- you know, the right-hand man of Kim Jong-un, not a good place to be, by the way.

PERINO: No, I was going to say, you don't want to be that guy.

WATTERS: The deputy gets lopped off every ten years.

But they're coming over. I don't think the North Koreans are really equipped for this kind of high-level diplomatic engagement. It's kind of a backwards country. There's not a lot of statesmen over there, and they're going in with zero leverage. So there's a little hand-holding going on. And they're kind of dragging them to Singapore.

HARF: They have nuclear weapons. They have nuclear weapons, which I think they probably assume is some -- pretty good leverage.

WATTERS: As the president says, our nuclear arsenal is much more massive.

PERINO: All right, we've got news for you. This is a FOX News alert.

WATTERS: Oh, boy.

PERINO: Embattled Missouri Governor Eric Greitens has resigned.

GUTFELD: What?

PERINO: Greitens has been at the center of a sexual misconduct and blackmailing blackmailing scandal. He has been accused of taking and transmitting a partially nude photo of a woman with whom he was having an affair.

The St. Louis circuit attorney's office dropped a felony invasion of privacy charge against him but says they still have plans to pursue a case. Greitens previously had said he would not quit, but now we have that news.

All right. If you're looking forward to your afternoon frappuccino fix, you're out of luck today at Starbucks. Details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARF: Better get your caramel macchiato fix in early today, because Starbucks is closing more than 8,000 stores nationwide for several hours this afternoon for what's called unconscious bias training. It's the coffee chain's latest effort to repair the damage caused after two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia store last month.

So Dana, they're closing today and they've also announced a new policy about whether people can use the bathrooms. Do they have to buy products from them? Where do you come down on this?

PERINO: Well, I do think that Starbucks overreacted in calling the police in the first place, and then calling for the nationwide thing.

I do think, though, that there's perhaps something that company -- again, companies can make whatever decisions they want. I don't care.

GUILFOYLE: Right. Exactly.

PERINO: But the younger members of their staff have grown up with diversity training since they were in kindergarten.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

PERINO: So this is normal to them. They probably appreciate it from the company.

I didn't think that there was going to be a problem, like with the sleeping and the homeless, but as I understand, I got this handy-dandy thing they handed out to all of the employees today about addressing disruptive behaviors. Things like people can't sleep. They can't have improper use of restrooms, which is the two things that I was mostly thinking about. And then they have all -- this pretty handy guide to how they should deal with it.

So maybe it's going to be safe to go in a Starbucks.

HARF: Well, because basically they had two options, right? Either say everyone has to buy a drink or an item to use the bathroom, or no one has to. It was this gray area that seemed to get them in trouble here.

Jesse, do you think this is a good move on their part, from a P.R. perspective, to shut down for half a day? And look, training is not bad. Right?

WATTERS: No, Roseanne could have used some training.

HARF: Roseanne.

WATTERS: In Starbucks.

GUTFELD: That was not unconscious.

WATTERS: That's true.

HARF: Right.

WATTERS: Listen, I like this bathroom policy. I like to use the bathroom at Starbucks, and I don't want to have to buy a venti cappuccino.

GUILFOYLE: Cheap.

WATTERS: And sometimes mothers go in with kids, and they're in a scramble, and they want to use the bathroom. I think that's fine.

And like Dana said, they still have policies prohibiting sleeping, drug use, inappropriate use of the bathroom, and those will be enforced.

I think Starbucks is a good company. They always have friendly people behind the counter. And they give them health care and all sorts of great benefits. So that's good. They're trying to encourage a community. They're going above and beyond, because they're willing to lose millions of dollars for some training. Usually, companies do some training just so they can say, "You know what? When we get sued, we did training."

PERINO: Yes, that's right. It's a business.

WATTERS: This is a real training exercise, so I think that's a good thing. And people do have unconscious bias, for good reasons and for bad reasons. And they're just trying to address it. That's all.

HARF: Well, and it was interesting to see how Starbucks sent an email out to everyone who has, like, a Starbucks frequent coffee buyer card, because I got one this morning. It said, basically, "I started this company, because when I went to Italy, coffee shops were communities, and they are welcoming to people. And so we're trying to do better."

This could have been a much bigger P.R. problem if Starbucks hadn't -- hadn't done this.

GUILFOYLE: Yes, but they already had, you know, a significant amount, I think, of good will in the industry, in terms of being very proactive. And they've always been sort of more on the politically correct side of things. So I think when they try to do a quick course correction, as it relates to what happened there, it makes sense. They did that. I think it's consistent with their, you know, mission statement and their image and how they're perceived, you know, by people.

I mean, look, smart company, they've been able to be incredibly successful. I mean, I have the app on my phone. Does Dunkin' Donuts have one?

HARF: I don't know.

WATTERS: They will now.

GUILFOYLE: I was thinking about that the other day.

HARF: Greg, do you have the app on your phone?

GUTFELD: No, but I disagree with everybody here. I don't like this. This is like National Wokeaccino day.

WATTERS: Wokeaccino.

HARF: Woke.

GUTFELD: OK. The phrase "unconscious bias training" to me sounds very dangerous, because it stipulates that you are unable to prove your own biases, because it's unconscious. If you apply that to other arenas in your life, like you're misogynist but you don't know it, or you are proslavery but you don't know it, this is like -- this is like one step away from "Minority Report," where people can actually read your mind --

GUILFOYLE: Yes, thought police.

GUTFELD: -- and punish you for the thoughts that they think you have. But you don't actually have these thoughts. But they are saying you have these thoughts.

This is virtue signaling brought to you by fear. If a company doesn't throw tons of money to the unconscious bias corporate, whatever you call it, the training.

PERINO: There's like -- there's a whole industry.

GUTFELD: The whole industry, the protests will never cease. And -- but the worst part about it is, I feel bad for the employees, the baristas, because they're going to become amateur social workers.

PERINO: Yes.

GUTFELD: They're going to be the ones that are upfront. It's not the executives. It's not the people in H.R. It's the guys upfront -- the guys and the girls upfront that are going to be dealing with the homeless guy yelling or the guy who doesn't want to leave the bathroom, shooting up.

PERINO: And also everyone trying to film everything.

GUTFELD: Everybody trying to film anything. And then the social justice warriors will put that on -- on Twitter, and then you will lose your job, because you were trying to get some guy out of the bathroom who was doing drugs.

HARF: This is why no one should be on Twitter.

OK, "One More Thing" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATTERS: It's time now for "One More Thing." Extreme weather in France. Check out this video. The Eiffel Tower getting struck by lightning.

PERINO: Wow.

WATTERS: That is crazy right over there. And the French have already surrendered to the lightning. They waved the white flag.

GUILFOYLE: I bet.

GUTFELD: Stop it.

WATTERS: The lightning won.

PERINO: Made it better.

GUILFOYLE: You better be very careful when we get our results, Jesse, because you may just be French.

WATTERS: I know. I'm setting myself up. Self-loathing French person.

All right. Dana.

PERINO: Check out this video. You know I'm a big sports fan. Las Vegas Aces point guard Kelsey Plum from Washington. Watch her throw this T-shirt up into the crowd. Watch, watch, watch, watch. Look how far she can throw that T-shirt.

GUTFELD: Wow.

PERINO: She's pretty amazing. She was at the San Antonio Spurs game. She was selected with the first overall pick in the 2017 WNBA draft by the San Antonio Stars, and now she's with the Las Vegas Aces. She's pretty cool.

GUTFELD: That person died, you know. Got hit by it, died instantly.

WATTERS: Better arm than Kaepernick.

GUILFOYLE: No doubt.

WATTERS: Kimberly Guilfoyle.

GUILFOYLE: No kneeling. All right. OK, so this photo is capturing a really beautiful random act of kindness. I'm not sure how many of you saw this, but it was on Memorial Day, and it's been going viral. It was taken at an Atlanta Braves game, and it shows a junior ROTC cadet standing at attention next to the Suntrust Park's Memorial. Now a man from the stands, he got up from his seat, and he stood next to the young cadet with an umbrella to shield him from the rain.

Suntrust Park Memorial is an unoccupied seat, and it is dedicated, in fact, to the memory of the brave men and women who sacrificed so much and served this country.

And it's interesting, because people were trying to figure out who this person is that engaged in this random act of kindness. I love this.

WATTERS: I think it's Rick Reichmuth with the Weatherman umbrella.

GUILFOYLE: What a missed opportunity for Rick.

WATTERS: Really was.

GUILFOYLE: Yes.

WATTERS: All right. Greg.

GUTFELD: All right. When I was exiting the "B" block, I played an amazing song. It was William Shatner doing The Cramps' "Garbage Man." It combined two things that mattered in my life: Dr. Demento and punk rock.

And now, you can get an album with all these great punk rock bands doing Dr. Demento classics. You have The Vandals, Missing Persons, Shonen Knife, The Misfits are on this album. And they're doing all the songs that I grew up with, like "Surfing Bird" and "I Love Beans."

PERINO: Well, we knew that.

GUTFELD: And "Eat It." Shonen Knife does "Eat It." And it's just a great album, and it's so beautiful. Look at that. That's William Shatner as Lex Interior from The Cramps. You can't get anything better than that. So I bet you could go, probably get this on Amazon or something.

PERINO: Cool artwork. I like it.

GUTFELD: It's beautiful.

WATTERS: Kids, say no to drugs.

GUTFELD: Dr. Demento, the people at home know who Dr. Demento is.

WATTERS: That's good stuff.

HARF: Today, in good boss news, Monumental Support's CEO and founder Ted Leonsis -- Leonsis, did I say that right?

PERINO: Yes.

HARF: He owns the Washington Capitals, who are in the Stanley Cup finals. He arranged for 200 full-time employees to make the trip to Las Vegas. They get to stay at the Excalibur for one night and receive a ticket to see the Capitals play in either game one or game two of the Stanley Cup final.

PERINO: I hope they chose game two.

HARF: I hope they chose game two. It was a great game, though. And he chartered two flights for his employees, which is a great boss thing to do.

WATTERS: And your Cavs are in the NBA finals.

HARF: My Cavs are in the NBA finals.

GUTFELD: They had unconscious bias training on the plane.

GUILFOYLE: As long as it's not unconscious coupling.

WATTERS: All right. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of "The Five." "Special Report" up next. Bret Baier at the White House.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS: Thanks, Jesse.

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